“Terrible Sign”: Knives Out in the MAGA World Over Reported Trump Cabinet “Disaster” Choice

The president-elect reports this Donald Trump plans to send Sen. Marco RubioR-Fla., because the Secretary of State has thrown the MAGA world into turmoil.

Rubio, a rather conventional Republican, has worked hard to earn Trump’s favor and has spoken forcefully on his behalf in recent years, but he was not part of his old guard of supporters and is viewed with suspicion by those who are .

Rubio has faced adversity on all fronts. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump has lent influence in shaping his future administration, reportedly resisted that Rubio has a prominent foreign policy role. MAGA-focused social media users were quick to question whether the decision was made by Trump himself and stressed that Rubio was not yet a done deal. Many of them are backing Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, for the post.

“Folks, a word of wisdom. If Trump hasn’t confirmed it on Truth (Social), don’t jump to conclusions or believe everything you see,” said Charlie Kirk, an influential right-wing activist. wrote in an X-post.

“We are still waiting to hear from President Trump and campaign leadership on what their official decision is,” a Grenell ally told Politico on Tuesday morning. “What we have heard is that no decision has been made yet.”

Grenell, a friend of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has his own enemies in Trump’s inner circle, Politico reported. Many of Trump’s advisers reportedly dislike his abrasive personality, his role in facilitating meetings between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that he actively lobbied to become foreign minister rather than wait for the newly elected president would choose him.

MAGA voices outside Trump’s immediate circle, however, view Grenell as a standard-bearer of the America First agenda. Rubio, a hawkish Republican who has consistently favored U.S. military interventions abroad, is a nominal departure from Grenell and other America First advocates who say they want to prioritize U.S. interests and prefer to act like a global policeman.

Conservative comedian Dave Smith said Tuesday that the choice was a ‘disaster’ and a ‘terrible sign’.

Trump “might as well give Liz Cheney the State Department,” he wrote, possibly referring to Cheney and Rubio’s shared support for American power projection or comparing Cheney’s opposition to Trump to Rubio’s awkward conversion since the presidential 2016 Republican Party primaries.

But the desire to avoid costly wars is clearly a selective calculation. Many of Trump’s most ardent MAGA supporters have called for one bombing of Mexico to stem the flow of fentanyl, and the selection of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel met with little pushback. Huckabee, who denies existence of a Palestinian identity, has vowed to continue sending weapons to Israel and supporting their occupation of the West Bank, which he calls Judea and Samaria.

Despite the outpouring of support for Grenell, the Trump administration has hopefully pushed back on MAGA votes itself, insisting the fight was not over. “B.S. Stop toiling. Not true,” he said said in response to one of those messages.